LAHAINA, HI–A big-time opponent and a big-time win for the Chaminade University Silverswords Men’s Basketball team this afternoon as the Swords defeated the Longhorns of Texas 86-73 in the opening round of the 2012 EA Sports Maui Invitational. The win, Chaminade’s seventh in the history of the tournament was the third game of the first day and was played in front of an energized crowd and a national TV audience on ESPNU. The Longhorns came out early and led CUH 8-0 with 15:17 left in the first half. Chaminade responded with a three by sophomore guard Lee Bailey (Detroit, MI/Detroit Country Day) and the Swords settled down offensively. Chaminade took a 25-24 lead following a free-throw by junior Tyree Harrison (San Bernardino, CA/Cajon) with 3:22 left in the first half. The Silverswords went into the break with a 31-27 lead, a lead it would never relinquish. CUH took the lead all the way to nineteen points after a jumper by freshman Kevin Hu (Taipei, Taiwan/Songsan) with 6:23 remaining in the contest. Following the jumper, the Swords led 64-45.

Texas looked to make a run, but the Swords knocked down crucial free throw down the stretch, including a 10 for 10 free-throw line performance from De’Andre Haskins (Long Beach, CA/Jordan) following the final media timeout of the contest. Haskins finished with a career-high 32 points along with 9 rebounds to lead all scorers. The 6’4 senior shot 7-11 from the floor, 4-6 from three and 14-15 from the line. Kevin Hu finished with 16 points for Chaminade, while senior Dominique Cooks (Wollongong, Australia/Holy Spirit) finished with 9 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the 86-73 victory.

A question and answer from Coach Bovaird at the post-game press conference: Q. This is win number 7 out of 83 games in this tournament. Chaminade’s never won twice in this tournament. Is that on your minds now?

“I’m pretty happy about this win right now. But we just talked about it in the locker room. You know, Lee Bailey said this summer, Coach, we can win that. We can win that tournament. And these guys believe that. They believe that. That is the first step in achieving something like that. They believe it. So we’re going to come out, get prepared for whoever wins this game, and they’re going to be in for a battle.”

Chaminade is back in action tomorrow, November 20th in the second round of the 2012 EA Sports Maui Invitational. The Swords will facethe winner ofUSC vs. Illinois at 5:30 PM HT at the Lahaina Civic Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2.